In partnership with
Your Boss Will Think You’re an Ecom Genius
If you’re optimizing for growth, you need ecomm tactics that actually work. Not mushy strategies.
Go-to-Millions is the ecommerce growth newsletter from Ari Murray, packed with tactical insights, smart creative, and marketing that drives revenue.
Every issue is built for operators: clear, punchy, and grounded in what’s working, from product strategy to paid media to conversion lifts.
Subscribe for free and get your next growth unlock delivered weekly.
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR, MASTERS OF TRIVIA
Trivia is more than a game; it’s a global tradition of knowledge and competition. Masters of Trivia’s tournaments have gone live, with 30 fast, multiple-choice questions. Most correct wins. Speed breaks ties. Compete worldwide for a $MOT token prize purse, plus valuable in-kind prizes.
Get the entry link and reminders by email — subscribe free at PlayMOT.
—— ON THIS DAY ——
SEPTEMBER 24, 1789
New York City, USA
237 years ago
The Judiciary Act of 1789, signed on September 24, which established the federal court system of the United States and the office of Attorney General.
On September 24, 1789, George Washington signed the Judiciary Act, one of the first substantial laws passed by the first Congress. The Constitution had disposed of the judiciary in a remarkably brief passage, vesting judicial power in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as Congress might from time to time establish. It did not say how many justices there would be, what the lower courts would look like, where they would sit, or what cases they could hear. All of that was left to legislation, and this was the legislation.
The act created a Supreme Court of six justices, thirteen district courts with one judge each, and three circuit courts staffed by Supreme Court justices sitting together with a district judge. It also created the office of Attorney General. The drafting was led by Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention who would himself later serve as Chief Justice.
—— MARQUEE EVENT ——
The Supreme Court of the United States, established in outline by the Constitution and given its structure, size, and jurisdiction by the Judiciary Act of 1789.
The most contested question the act had to answer was how much power federal courts should have relative to state courts. Anti-federalists had warned during ratification that a federal judiciary would swallow the state courts. The compromise Ellsworth engineered left much litigation in state hands while giving federal courts jurisdiction over admiralty, disputes between citizens of different states, and cases involving the United States. Section 25 gave the Supreme Court authority to review state court decisions that ruled against federal law or treaties, which proved to be one of the most consequential provisions in American law.
The early years of the Court were unglamorous. Justices had to ride circuit, travelling long distances on bad roads to hold court twice a year in their assigned regions, a duty they complained about bitterly and which was not fully abolished until 1911. The first Chief Justice, John Jay, resigned to become governor of New York and later declined reappointment on the grounds that the Court lacked the energy, weight, and dignity to be worth having.
It was a small provision of this act that produced the Court's most important decision. Section 13 was read by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison in 1803 as granting the Supreme Court a power the Constitution did not permit Congress to grant. Marshall declared that portion of the Judiciary Act unconstitutional, and in doing so established that federal courts may strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution. Judicial review, the power that makes American courts uniquely central among the world's judiciaries, entered practice through a technical dispute about a section of this statute.
—— WHY THIS MATTERS ——
It built the federal court system the Constitution had only sketched. The structure of district courts, circuit courts, and a Supreme Court with a fixed size and defined jurisdiction was created by statute rather than by the Constitution, and much of that framework is still recognizable today.
It settled the balance between federal and state courts. By allowing Supreme Court review of state decisions rejecting federal law, the act made national law enforceable against state resistance, a principle repeatedly tested throughout American history.
A section of it gave rise to judicial review. Marbury v. Madison struck down part of this very statute and in doing so established the power of courts to void unconstitutional laws, the foundation of the modern American judiciary.
—— THE TAKEAWAY ——
The Constitution mentioned a Supreme Court and left the rest of the judiciary blank. On September 24, 1789, Congress filled it in: six justices, thirteen district courts, an Attorney General, and circuit duty the justices hated. Fourteen years later the Court struck down a section of this same act and invented judicial review.
—— QUOTE OF THE DAY ——
“The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court.”
— Article III of the United States Constitution, which the Judiciary Act of 1789 gave practical form
—— OUR QUIZ OF THE DAY ——
How much do you know about the Judiciary Act of 1789, the court structure it created, the circuit-riding duties it imposed, and its role in Marbury v. Madison?
